Samsung R580-11

Last updated Jun 23, 2010

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The new Samsung R580-11 is a another good news, bad news deal. Good news is that the model now includes Intel’s Wireless Display technology for streaming content from the laptop to an HDTV. The bad news is that the insides got a bit of a downgrade. Gone is the Core i5 CPU and Nvidia graphics. Instead you’ll find a Core i3 processor with an integrated Intel HD GPU…..

The R80 line of Samsung notebooks is updated now with the R580-11 which has a Wi-Di streaming. Wireless Display lets users send the video signal of their computer to a compatible HD display. The Blu-Ray player will make this a useful entertainment notebook. With new colorful designs, these notebooks are likely to still be popular. At $850 for a computer with Blu-ray and Wi-Di, that’s not a bad price. If you have seen the predecessor to the R580.

he island style and great key placement really make the keyboard standout. This keyboard is almost as good as those found on the Lenovo Edge 13 and Edge 14 which I have reviewed, which says a lot. The keys have great spacing, a good amount of feedback and provide an overall good typing experience. If you need to do a lot of typing, this is one of the best consumer notebook keyboards I have used.

Samsung calls an invisible touchpad. This means the touchpad blends in with the palmrest area; its borders denoted with 4 Blue LEDs in the corners. The mousing surface has a good feel to it that lets you know where it begins and the palmrest ends which isn’t prone to the sticking that some afflicts some trackpads. The mouse button is one long button with a center pivot which is OK, but two separate buttons would be better; especially if you like to use your thumbs to click while typing.